Johnson chasing icons Petty, Earnhardt

Sprint Cup Series driver Jimmie Johnson climbs out of his car after qualifying for the Brickyard 400 auto race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Saturday, July 27, 2013. Johnson qualified with a speed of 187.438 mph.(AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
— AP

Sprint Cup Series driver Jimmie Johnson climbs out of his car after qualifying for the Brickyard 400 auto race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Saturday, July 27, 2013. Johnson qualified with a speed of 187.438 mph.(AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
/ AP

The pressure will build on Jimmie Johnson next season if the El Cajon native successfully wins his sixth NASCAR Sprint Cup championship Sunday.

Six titles would leave Johnson one championship shy of equaling the NASCAR-record seven championships won by the two beloved icons – Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt.

I’ve thought about that record and what it means in NASCAR because of who shares it,” Johnson said in 2010 as he was completing his own record run of five straight NASCAR titles. n “I want to win and keep winning for this team. It would mean a lot to me to be in that circle. But it’s a long ways off.”

No more.

Johnson’s sixth title is here for the taking – he clinches the championship by finishing 23rd or better in Sundays’ race at Homestead, Fla. – which would leave him on the doorstep of two of the most idolized drivers in racing.

However, a seventh title for Johnson might not be that popular with the southern-fried core of NASCAR fans.

“Even the most hardcore, old-school NASCAR fans are beginning to appreciate the driving skills that have made Johnson a champion,” says Bob Moore, a veteran NASCAR observer based in North Carolina, which also happens to be the home state of both Petty and Earnhardt in addition to being at the heart of NASCAR’s heritage.

“But,” added Moore, “Richard and Dale are revered figures in this sport.”

Although this is Johnson’s 13th season in NASCAR’s premier series, he is still viewed as an outsider among the more rampant NASCAR fans who talk about the early days of Petty and Earnhardt as though they are biblical figures.

Johnson?

He’s from Southern California. He must be Hollywood. He’s polished, clean and well-spoken.

NASCAR fans connect Johnson more to the surfing set than the hard-scrabble life of Petty and Earnhardt, who were raised as second-generation stock car racers in a sport born of moonshine runs through the foothills of the deep South. Johnson is from the freeway set.

In their mind, Petty and Earnhardt are grassroots. Johnson is not.

Which, of course, hides the facts.

Truth is, Johnson’s background is every bit as grassroots as Petty and Earnhardt. Father Gary was a heavy equipment operator who worked on the side to assist off-road racers and young motocross racers in San Diego County. Mother Cathy drove a school bus.

Open the closet in Jimmie’s bedroom of the family home in Crest and there were partially-charred beams from a brush fire that once damaged the home.

“I had an unusual childhood,” Johnson said years ago. “My parents knew that my younger brothers and I loved racing. They took extra jobs and helped rebuild old mini-bikes for us. We didn’t know what we didn’t have in areas some kids might have thought about because as long as we had wheels, we were rolling.

“I was a little naïve.”

Whereas Petty and Earnhardt had entry to stock car racing through their eventual Hall of Fame fathers, Johnson did not. But early on, people inside racing saw talent possessed by Johnson.